News from Prague

 The pictures are of Alena's baptism which occurred a few weeks ago in Pardubice. She was baptized in a river by the branch president. It must have been an amazing day, judging from the smiles on those faces!

 Excerpts from Taylor's email, complete with typos that occur when one types very quickly, as he does:

Sunday was  a good day. WE met with our Chinese investigator, Jackson, before church and then of course he stayed for church. he is such a funny guy. I love him. One problem: he is very busy with his business, which means we have not a ton of time to meet with him. Also, his business is selling cheap czech beer at really high prices to China. Interesting. Every sunday night before call ins, we have a meeting with President at which we discuss the week and the needs of the mission and anything he wants us to pass on to the zone leaders. WE started a study of Luke last week with President and he said we're going to do it every week. Elder sewell and I are so excited to just sit and bask in his wisdom. It's going t obe GREAT.

(Elder Knapp's mission president is Bruce R. McConkie's nephew. He was one of the first missionaries in the Czech Republic when the mission opened 20 years ago or so.)

Monday we had the normal schedule. We did a bunch of office work in the morning, then had ofice meeting, then taught Viktor, Isabel, Jan, and Martin. We went to FHE and did some studies. It was a pretty hectic day, most Mondays are, but it was good. Viktor is doing so well! I don't remember if I told you much about him, but he is Ukrainian, has as of yet refused to take a Book of Mormon, but the last few lessons have been great, and I'll tell you more aobut him in a bit.

Tuesday we had training for new district leaders and it went really well. Immediately after the training we had district meeting and then another meeting with President. he's had a rough week. A lot of tough things with missionaries and members. We actually picked up a missionary tonight who wants to go home. President had a good chat with him, and he's agreed to stay for a bit more. Pray for him please. My heart aches to think of all that someone would lose by going home early. We also taught a couple lessons today, a recent convert Jitka and a less active Drahomir.

Wednesday I took Elder Sewell to the dentist for hopefullly the last time. I've been to that doctor's office so many times with my past copule companions, I'm glad to see the last of it. But we came back and taught a few more lessons. We taught Viktor again, a wonderful lady named Vera, she's the mother in law of a member here and so great, a semi active guy named vitaly, then went and visited a member family named the Pavluvovi. Mom, I had some of the best soup ever. Vera made a Russian soup called Boršč, and it was amazing. the family we visited also made some good soup for us. I love soup. I just realized that was a dangerous sentence to write. but I'm going to get some of these great soup recipes and pass them on. Viktor btw promised to finally take a book of Mormon!!! We just need to download it in e-form, and then he'll read it on he e-book. So happy about that.

Thursday we taught a bunch. We contacted a couple referrals, some way cool folks. We taught 7 lessons total, one to the Pavlicovi and their OLDEST DAUGHTER YEAAAAAAH! We set up again for today, and we are so pumped. We're going to baptize the whole family! We also visited this lady whose mother in law is a member in the Philipines and sshe works here in the embassy, so she's way smart and successful. She has a cool story aobut how she ended up here in Prague, and we know that she is totally here because she needs the Gospel. 

Friday we gave Viktor the Book of Mormon! He's probably even going to come to church! Hes such a good guy. he feels the Spirit in our lessons ,and slowly but surely he is coming around. We went to lunch with a couple of members, and now are going to start teaching the sister of one of them. We met with a recent convert and his girlfriend, Isabel, and Jan. Jan is getting baptized next week. He's such a good kid. He likes to joke around a lot, but he always accepts what we teach and lives it. 

Then today! We are just kind of relaxing today. I mentioned at the beginning that the Lord blesses us despite our very limited finding time. We have received so many solid referrals this week, and we are going to end up with loads of new investigators from it. it's so awesome. We're going to go play ball in a few hours after teahing some lessons. for now, we're just going to write some letters and stuff. hayden finally wrote me! I was way excited. so, I have some letters to write. Love you all, the Church is so true.

Starsi Knapp